A message to all you aspiring screenwriters: know your genre. There are good reasons why you shouldn't write a farce the same way you write a biographical drama--pacing, audience expectations, etc. Scott Rosenberg has made a decent career writing comedies (Beautiful Girls) and action films (Con Air), his chosen style involving arch dialogue and plenty of it. That style doesn't work at all for a dark thriller like Disturbing Behavior, a 45 degree spin on The Stepford Wives in which small-town teens begin turning into--gasp!--upstanding citizens. It's a nifty idea to create a creepshow out of the recognition that a teenager who's acting "normal" probably isn't, but this is purely a teen-sploitation flick, in which the re-programmed adolescents get violent when they get horny (which, of course, happens with some regularity). Though X-Files veteran David Nutter's direction is rarely inspired, ultimately the film crashes because of Rosenberg's script: the forced dialogue is bad enough; the ridiculous lack of tension built into any scene is fatal. Cynically pitched at youth with sex, violence, loud music and a story that doesn't make a shred of sense, Disturbing Behavior is not recommended. (S. Renshaw)
Disturbing Behavior
(MGM, 84 min., R, <b>DVD</b>) Vol. 14, Issue 1
Disturbing Behavior
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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